Charlie Chaplin vs. America

When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided

By: Scott Eyman

Narrated by: Phil Thron

The “shocking” (The Wall Street Journal), must-read story of Charlie Chaplin’s years of exile from the United States during the postwar Red Scare, and how it ruined his film career, from bestselling biographer Scott Eyman.

Bestselling Hollywood biographer and film historian Scott Eyman tells the story of Charlie Chaplin’s fall from grace. In the aftermath of World War II, Chaplin was criticized for being politically liberal and internationalist in outlook. He had never become a US citizen, something that would be held against him as xenophobia set in when the postwar Red Scare took hold.

Politics aside, Chaplin had another problem: his sexual interest in young women. He had been married three times and had had numerous affairs. In the 1940s, he was the subject of a paternity suit, which he lost, despite blood tests that proved he was not the father. His sexuality became a convenient way for those who opposed his politics to condemn him. Refused permission to return to the US after a trip abroad, he settled in Switzerland and made his last two films in London.

In Charlie Chaplin vs. America, Scott Eyman explores the life and times of the movie genius who brought us such masterpieces as City Lights and Modern Times. “One of the finest surveys of the man and the artist ever written” (Leonard Maltin) this book is “a sobering account of cancel culture in action.” (The Economist).

Critic reviews

"Scott Eyman, literary critic for the PALM BEACH POST, offers a biography of Hollywood icon Charlie Chaplin. The British actor bridged the transition from silent to talking films and started his own studio. Deep-voiced Phil Thron provides a workmanlike narration. While the audiobook is a biography overall, it focuses on the politics and personal circumstances that caused Chaplin’s somewhat self-imposed exile from the U.S. Background information is shared about Chaplin’s films CITY LIGHTS, MODERN TIMES, MONSIEUR VERDOUX, and, during his exile, the poorly received COUNTESS OF HONG KONG. While Tron’s performance is unadorned, his anchorman style clearly recounts the turbulent times surrounding the genius that was Chaplin and his alter ego, The Little Tramp."

Interesting and upsetting

I enjoyed this book very much, even if it did have me cursing Hedda Hopper out loud several times. I have stopped outside the Chaplin studios many times when showing friends around LA. I will look at it differently now, knowing how it was taken away from him.

wonderful

so moving and so inspiring. I now wish to collect his works and watch them in order.

Great narration

Love it — a real good history story. Shameful Americans for exiling America. Sad. He was a genius

Fascinating

insightful look into the life of a unique creative genius. Also a reminder of a dark period on American paranoia.

Great Biography of Chaplin

Although the focus of this book is on the federal government's (well, part of it) seemingly inexplicable efforts to "get" Charlie Chaplin, it is also a really good biography of a great entertainer who was a very complex person.

It is a true shame that Chapin was effectively exiled from the U.S. for that last quarter of his life, and one can only wonder what he might have done if he had remained here. It's a shame Charlie did not fight it, because he probably would have won. It's also pretty disgusting how he was treated by the press about his supposed lack of patriotism, after having raised money for war bonds (and bought them himself) and after his sons had served in the war.

If there's a nit about this book, it is that it broadly, simplistically, and repeatedly claims "conservatives" were against Chaplin. Many conservatives at the time wanted him here. Moreover, as our current times demonstrate, efforts to control thoughts and dialogue are not limited to one political persuasion. Intelligence services have been largely a disgrace for decades, misdirected and misused across the political spectrum for purposes far beyond their legitimate purview.

J. Edgar Hoover was a disaster, but even he was not the moving force here.

That nit aside, it's a good book. The narration is fine.